Author Archives: Sam

Property pricing is of paramount important these days. I don’t mean the question of ‘value’ – but instead the art of setting the right price so that the portal searches are optimised. For example: you have a house to sell worth approximately £1 million. The agent suggests an asking price of £999,999. “It’s a psychological price point” they tell you. I don’t agree. At all. I say – market at £1,000,000, and here’s why:

£999,999 is a cheap ploy – an ‘Asda’ price. Your buyers aren’t daft, so don’t treat them as if they are! Give them some respect and a ‘Harrods’ price. Make it £1 million straight;

£1 million is actually an aspirational price point – your buyers WANT to spend one million pounds on a house, and tell their friends and family that they have done;

£1 million is a very confident price – it says “my house is worth a million pounds” £999,999 is apologetic, humble: it says “make me an offer”;

£1 million gets your property shown in more searches. At £999,999 on Rightmove, your property will only appear in searches up to £1 million. At £1,000,000 straight, it appears not only in searches up to £1 million, but also those over: potentially doubling traffic to your property advert.

After all, as my Dad would have said, “Look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves”.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

“Price on application” is a tag applied to some properties on the market, the price of which, for one reason or another, the agent or owner wants to keep secret. The theory is that an interested buyer will make the effort to call the agent, to find out the price, and even then, agents can prove to be cagey, to say the least.

So what is POA all about, why are some properties marketed this way, and most importantly, does it work?

A price can be kept secret for a number of reasons: the owner could have requested it, perhaps to keep this information from his neighbours or family; he could be a celebrity, and value his privacy generally, so this is just a natural extension of his cautiousness. There is usually only one reason for an agent to choose to market a house at POA: if he has absolutely no idea what it’s worth. He doesn’t want to commit himself to an asking price, so by marking the property without a price, in essence, he may hope to generate enquiries to help him gauge the likely interest and so determine a suitable asking price.

But – and it is a big but – if this property is marketed on the internet, POA doesn’t work! Once upon a time when the internet was just a baby (and so were most of today’s agents) an agent could make up an asking price on the spot when challenged by a buyer. These days, nothing is secret thanks to the internet. You see, when a property is uploaded to a property portal, POA is merely the descriptor; an asking price has to be selected. Therefore, all a buyer needs to do is to enter a wide search, in terms of asking prices and area, and the so-called secretly-priced property will magically appear in the slot allocated by the uploaded asking price.

Let me give you an example: if I enter ‘Reigate’ into Rightmove, with no upper price limit, I may get a list of properties with a POA property right at the top, with no way of knowing its real asking price. If however, I extend the area to say, 10 miles of Reigate, the POA property will then show in order and I will be able to see roughly where it sits. The reason the POA will probably show at the top of my list by the way, is that POAs tend to be in the upper price brackets, typically at more than £2.5 million.

POA is in my opinion, a little bit arrogant, misguided and it doesn’t work. Can you imagine if next time you go into your local newsagent, all the stickers on the cans of Coke and the baked beans simply say ‘price on application’?!

If you’re a seller with a unique, hard-to-price house for sale, don’t let your agent talk you into it, and if you’re an agent, re-educate your client so they understand why it’s such a bad idea.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

When buyers are property perusing, the first minute of a potential home viewing is imperative. An initial positive sixty seconds puts them into a great frame of mind, where as if they pick fault in those vital moments, chances are they won’t be signing on any dotted lines. A good first impression will make your viewer want to live in your home, and that’s what you need to establish in those first moments.

We’ve previously discussed kerb appeal, and the stamp your home has already made before buyers even get to the front door. If this is flawless, read our tips on the first sixty seconds when they step through the door…

Maintenance – How’s that broken light fitting in the hall, are the wires still dangling from the ceiling? A minor five minute job for you can lose you a sale. Showing a lazy attitude to your general DIY before a house viewing, can leave people deflated and wondering what else you might not have fixed, especially things that can’t be seen. Complete all repairs in the house before you have people over.

Cleaning – You may have enjoyed your eggs on toast this morning, but the buyers won’t enjoy the pots on the table, or the leftover smell. It may seem like a minor detail, but if it’s one of the first things they see, it’ll leave an impression. Do the dishes and make your kitchen shine. Hoover and dust each corner and crevice of your home to perfection, wash the windows, and make people want to live there.

Clutter – De-cluttering is vital for the first minute of a property viewing. If buyers walk in to a hall or living room that is full to bursting, it makes rooms look smaller and your home immediately feels chaotic. To envision themselves living there, buyers need clear open spaces to picture where their belongings and furniture can go, and it’s hard to imagine this with piles of stuff in their line of vision. If you have a lot of clutter, spend a weekend sorting it out. If it’s easier, store things at a friend’s house, although throwing out things you don’t need now will save you time when you move.

Smells – Just like the eggs example, any lingering smells will hit buyer’s noses instantly. Open the windows (weather permitting!) to let fresh air into your rooms. Put any pets outside or ask someone to look after them. Create a nice smell for the air, such as baking. Read about smells in your home in more detail here.

Colours – Even if you love your very darkly painted entrance room, heading into a dark room could give a bad first impression. Research has shown that a lot of buyers prefer natural colours such as magnolia, and this is a sensible choice for a hallway. Heading into a light and bright room, works wonders.

If you want to create the right first impression with your buyers and generate a positive viewing, the points above are crucial to pay attention to. If a sale can be generated from a few hours of work, it will be worth it when you are shaking hands with the agents for your property.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Have you heard of guerrilla marketing? The term was coined and defined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing and was invented as an unconventional system of promoting something, that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional, and consumers are targeted in unexpected ways and places.

There’s a lot that estate agents could learn about guerrilla marketing techniques, and how to apply them to selling houses. In this still-tough market, sellers need all the help they can get. But don’t leave it to your agent; there’s plenty that you can do to give yourself the best possible chance to attract interest and beat the competition. Here’s twelve guerrilla marketing tips to get you started:

1. If you have an unusual feature, design or story about your house, try to generate free PR by getting onto local radio or in the press.

2. Offer a financial referral incentive to all on your email contact list, and ask them all to pass it on. Make it a really worthwhile reward – several thousands of pounds – to make sure they get excited about it.

3. Leave your brochure between the pages of some of your used magazines, and then take them to doctors’ and dentists’ surgeries for their waiting rooms.

4. Attach a lidded, waterproof brochure box to your for sale sign so people can help themselves to your brochures when they are driving or walking past.

5. Your largest employers in the area will probably have noticeboards where you can pin a brochure, or at least an index card..

6. Put your asking price on your for sale board. This particularly works well on a busy road, or on the rear fence of a house that backs on to a playing field or park.

7. Have some small postcards printed with your property details and contact information; wherever you go, make sure you have some with you and can leave them in appropriate places.

8. Calculate the price per square foot of your house, and compare it to your competition; if it is favourable, print a table showing how you rank and make it available to buyers.

9. If you have a family house, make sure any children are well catered for, and encourage them to play on swings, slides, trampolines etc, leaving their parents free to look around in peace. Pester power can work a treat!

10. Follow the developers’ lead, and place some signs around the house detailing appliances and any other features, such as pull-down loft ladders and garage door remote switches. Men in particular, love any gadgets, and it gives them permission to try them out.

11. Ask your friends and neighbours to write some nice testimonials about the house, the neighbours and the village or town. Leave these printed out on the table for them to take with them. Include any interesting local stories and famous or celebrity residents.

12. Facebook sites are really easy to create – make one to showcase your house complete with local information, photographs, details about local stories and famous neighbours etc. Share the link with your email list, and add it to any marketing.

The message here is, don’t leave it all to your estate agent – there’s so much you can do. At the very least, you’ll feel that you have taken back some control of the marketing of your property – and at best, you might just find yourself a buyer!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

When it comes to spreading the word about your home, sometimes mainstream marketing doesn’t do enough to find that perfect buyer for your house. The spoken word is sometimes overlooked when it comes to home-selling, when it is in fact a very useful and expedient tool. We aren’t talking about the words that drift from your estate agents mouth, but your own. In the surrounding area, use tools at your own disposal for marketing your house on your own time. We’re talking about the local community; one of the most powerful promotion tools you can operate.

The majority of people who will be interested in your home will be local, and by following our suggested ideas below, your home will become a topic of great interest in no time.

Neighbours – While some of them will be your best friends, and some will be nosy, their penchant for news is useful when spreading the word about your home. They may have seen the For Sale sign, but drop a word by them that if they know of anyone who is looking, to please recommend. Just like the ingenious creativity of social media networking (read more here), networking among people can open a thousand potential doors. Once a neighbour tells their friends at work, half a dozen of them mention it to potential buyer friends and so on…

Local churches and meeting houses – If you attend church, the majority have a bulletin board where anyone can advertise anything of interest. By placing an advert here (and ensuring it is appealing to the eye), you’re drawing an immediate crowd of several dozen eyes a day. Even if they aren’t looking for a property, a recommendation to a friend or family member will likely follow. A good idea would be to add cut-offs at the bottom of the advert for people to take with them. Add your contact details and possibly an estate agent reference, and you’ll love how eager people will become.

Supermarkets – All supermarkets have notice boards, and most allow you to place an advert for free for up to a month. Many eyes grace these types of boards throughout the day; by placing an advert similar to the one above, you’re directly advertising to the local area. If you really want to see how far your free advertising can stretch, ask a manager if an advert can be placed in the staffroom too. Why not appeal to as many people as you can!

Local school newsletters – If you have children who attend the local school, ask the secretary or head teacher if you can place a small advert on the newsletter that goes out to parents. Add any details to your advert that will appeal to parents, such as close locality to the school, a real ‘family home’, and any other amenities that will draw interest. Put your name on here, and parents who know you will recognise your name.

Your own workplace – It goes without saying that you should be advertising your home where you work. Even if you don’t know everyone in the building, by telling a few people that you’re selling up, word will quickly spread. Take advantage of staff newsletters and bulletin boards, and even advertise your home for sale via the footer on your email (with a link to the estate agents website).

By following such simple and unique ideas within your own community, you immediately have remarkable and free marketing tools at your disposal. Networking is a powerful tool, and by using it correctly, your home will be sold in no time.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

More and more these days, the total floor area of a property is included on the floorplan, which can be very useful to a buyer when they are trying to work out how much house they are getting for their money. At HomeTruths, we compile a ‘Price per square foot analysis’ for our clients, so they can see how they compare with the competition. But what should you include, or exclude from the overall square footage total?

Well, it’s certainly not an exact science, and other industry professionals may have their own formula, but I thought I would share mine with you here, so you can decide for yourself.
Firstly, let’s look at what the figure actually means; when your floorplan is compiled, the floor area is calculated automatically by the software that was used to create it. This area is the gross internal floor area, which means, it is the total area within the external walls of the building, as if there were no inside walls. So corridors and wall thicknesses are included in this figure. If your property is a square or a rectangle, you may be able to calculate this figure yourself, by taking the outside footprint then deducting the external wall thicknesses (usually around 12” for a brick/cavity/block construction).

Next, let’s consider what should and shouldn’t be included in the overall figure. As a general rule of thumb, I include any area which is, or could, be used as residential accommodation; therefore I would include an internal garage, because these are usually constructed so they can be easily converted, but not a detached garage, which often isn’t. I wouldn’t include an inside swimming pool, whether or not attached to the house, but I would include an over-garage studio, which is extra accommodation. If there is a detached cottage in the grounds, I would include that separately, as it can often skew the results, and position it in the comparison table in two places, to see what effect it has. Cellars can be included if they are full head height (at least 7 feet), similarly with attics.

It is worth bearing in mind though, that not all square footage is equal: town houses, where the accommodation is spread over three or four floors, are not equal to bungalows, where the overall footprint of the house, and its plot, are much larger. There is no formula to take this into account, so when you compare your property to others for sale, try to pick similar styles of home to compare to.

What this exercise may highlight, is how much each room is worth to you: often a valuable insight in itself. For example, if your price per square foot is £300, and you have an unused bedroom or boxroom at 10’ by 10’ (100 square feet) it is actually worth £30,000 of your house price; if you don’t define its use for a buyer, they may well dismiss it, and as a consequence, your asking price will appear to be £30,000 overpriced. Multiply that by three rooms, and you’re potentially ‘wasting’ around £100,000!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

A friend of mine has her house on the market. It’s a beautiful home, a true Grand Design; all glass and chrome, with stylish touches and contemporary gadgets. It’s been for sale for a few months now, in an area where properties usually fly off the shelves, but hers hasn’t attracted any offers yet. Surprising, not least because my friend is actually an estate agent. But it’s not the house that’s the issue. Let me explain:

When you’re selling your home, you need to be fully motivated to move. After all, there are a lot of hoops to jump through, and challenges to face, along the way. From preparing your home for each viewing, to dealing with disappointing feedback, low offers and harsh surveyors’ reports, to putting your life on hold for months, and sometimes longer, until you finally get the keys to your new home.

To have the energy to rise to these challenges, you really have to be determined to sell your house. Over the years I’ve met with hundreds of sellers, and I’ve identified two elements that have to be present in order to sell effectively: they are, pain and desire.

Pain – to sell your home, there must be a really strong reason why your house – once perhaps your dream home – is no longer right for you. It could be that you have six children and only two bedrooms, or that your partner can’t manage the stairs any more. Perhaps the garden has become too much of a worry, or simply that the house isn’t in the right location for a new job or school. Whatever the reason, it has to be tangible, and you need to be able to express it. Without the pain of your current home, it’s very difficult to separate yourself emotionally from it enough to make the break and sell it.

Desire – where are you moving to? And why are you moving? Is it to be closer to family? Or to release some capital so that you can fulfill a lifetime dream of travelling, or buying a boat? Perhaps you have an amazing job offer, one that will offer you a better standard of living in your new home. Or maybe you are longing for space; more bedrooms, walk-in wardrobe, ensuite bathroom and large garden. Your desire has to be achievable, and something to really get excited about for you to keep your eye on the prize.

I asked my friend, the estate agent, why she is selling her beautiful home. “Oh I just fancied a change,” she explained.

And where were they moving to? “We haven’t decided yet, nothing has really grabbed me,” she replied.

Until my friend digs deep enough to find the pain in her current home, and then finds a dream home she can desire with all her heart, she’s going to find that buyers for her current home are scarce. Once she finds her pain, and her desire, I’m certain that a buyer will magically appear. After all, her home is someone else’s dream home. Just as her next dream home is out there waiting for her.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

There’s nothing like a lovely spot of glorious sunshine to make people envision their life in a new home, and eagerly bring the iPads into the garden to have a peak at the property apps. This is a perfect reason why you have to ensure your property advert and photography is suitable for the season.

“Why”, I hear you cry? “My house looks just fine!”

Is it, though? Take a closer look. If it was put on the market in the last six months, chances are that your outdoor shot is stuck in the depths of autumn or winter. Are there autumn leaves knocking around, or even worse…snow?! Even if your home is professionally styled on the inside and looks like one of the Home and Garden dream properties, if the outdoor shot is stuck in a seasonal pothole, buyers will walk on by, Dionne Warwick style.

On most property adverts, the outdoor shot is the primary shot, and the one that shows up when searching for your home. It can’t be out of season. SO what can you do? Get your agent, or the photographer you use, to refresh your outdoor shots. Your front shot, and both back and front gardens need to be in the depth of summer, showing the lifestyle your home offers with summer lawns and lemonade and what makes your home special. Sell your buyers your homes summer lifestyle, and don’t let them witness a seasonal blunder

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

If you’re on a limited budget, but think a few changes around the house could add extra value and viewings to your home, a smaller budget can actually go a long way. Read our top tips on areas to concentrate on when you need to be careful of your spending.

Exterior – Ensure that your garden is tidy, grass mowed and the windows are clean. Paint your front door and plant a few colourful flowers.

Clutter – Get rid of any excess clutter and furniture; it makes rooms appear bigger, and local storage is reasonably cheap. Remove photographs and tidy up the walls.

Clean – The big clean, can really help sell a home! Steam the carpets, dust doorways and surfaces, and polish wooden tops. To make your home appear more open, open a few doors into the rooms to give the impression of larger space.

Painting – A fresh lick of paint can make a home look new. You can do it yourself on a budget, and end up with great results. Choose colours wisely, and try to stick to neutral colours. This isn’t the time to experiment with darker paints.

Bathroom – A few touches here and there, can work wonders. Add a new toilet seat, and fresh shower curtains. Hang fresh towels and a new bath mat. Place a few candles on the windowsill, and store all personal items in a cabinet.

Staging – Adding a few personal touches around the home, can really make a difference. Such items can include new bedding, cushions, rugs, artwork, bathroom accessories, and any little knick-knacks that help to complete the look. You can read more about this here.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

Summer is a perfect time to take advantage of guerrilla marketing when it comes to selling your house. If you’re new to the term ‘guerrilla marketing’ read our previous blog post on the topic. Essentially, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional, and consumers are targeted in unexpected ways and places. The results are usually pretty responsive, with marketing your home no exception. So where can you take advantage this summer? Take a look at some ideas…

Summer fetes & Car Boot Sales – Lovely summer weather attracts many seasonal events, and a summer fete or car boot sale is an ideal time to advertise your home. If you’re planning on holding a cake stall or you’re in charge of the raffle, place an advert alongside your table with details of your home on it. You could have a few printed brochures to hand for anyone interested. Ensure you ask the event organisers beforehand, and maybe offer to donate something towards the cause of the summer fete.

Bulletin Boards – Bulletin and notice boards are regularly checked over the summer, especially for parents seeking out activities and childcare for their children. This is a perfect time to put up an advert about your home; make it colourful and informative, and make sure you add your contact details. Great places that let you advertise include supermarkets, gyms, churches and corner shop windows.

Social Media – If you’ve previously missed it, have a read on our post about advertising your home on social media. With just a few simple guidelines, your home could be reaching your target audience within hours, and is perfect for filling with summer lifestyle photographs of your home!

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

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